[Results of preparatory surgery for in vitro fertilization with embryo transfer]

68 cases out of a total of 407 patients who were destined to have IVF (16.7%) had most adhesions in the pelvis which made the ovaries inaccessible for laparoscopic recovery, in the two years between September 1981 and September 1983. Using very severe criteria for selection we rejected 46 cases as unsuitable for surgery at that time. Only 22 therefore remained to have preparatory surgery. This surgery was particularly aimed at improving the local conditions for laparoscopic recovery as well as improving the quality of ovulation. The results are encouraging because those women who were operated on had about the same level of success in the three stages of IVF as women who were not operated on. This three-stage protocol of exploratory laparoscopy, operation and recovery laparoscopy does seem to be a heavy one and probably will be able to be replaced by a transvaginal ultrasound technique when this has been developed far enough to show that it has advantages.